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Monday, November 30, 2009

You don't judge the Wii, the Wii judges you

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Ever since the release of Wii Fit, I've been kind of interested in trying it. Even though it traumatized the heck out of a 10-year-old, I still wanted to check it out. I mean, as a 7-year-old, I was traumatized by gym class, and I don't blame volleyball, you know? And standing on the balance board, trying to use it as a joystick to maneuver your way through a maze? It sounds kind of fun! But then I read this review by Sam Machovech and dear lord, it's worse than I ever imagined.

"...if your weight spikes on a given day, Wii Fit will demand an explanation. Seriously--jump two pounds or more, and you are forced to explain yourself with one of eight choices: 'Ate too late,' 'Indigestion,' etc. Sadly, the thing lacks choices such as, 'I'm going through my period, you heartless piece of plastic.'"

We all know that fitness cannot be measured by the scale: remember that season of America's Next Top Model when lanky, perfect size 2 premodel Lisa was so weak that she couldn't lift herself with her leg muscles? One would think that she would still do well on the Wii Fit. Every bit of nervous "sky is falling" instinct I had about the potential for body image disorders is slowly popping into place. When I was engaged in disordered eating, what mattered most was the number on the scale: the number, the number, must make the number go down. Drop a pound, then drop to the next pound "decade," then lower still, then a few more pounds. The pounds were intangible. I felt no different from one pound to the next, but something must have been happening, something was floating away into the sky as the needle on my cheap Walgreens scale inched closer to true 0. I can't imagine the psychological trauma I would have had if this piece of plastic then asked me to account for a shift upward, like a cross, overly-involved authority figure.

Sam sums it up nicely:
"I hate that it's made me a slave to its scale. The little information that Wii Fit offers is drowned out by the fact that it turns your weight into a score, greeting you in the form of a glaring, daily chart. Welcome to disorder city; don't forget to take a dump before you hit the power button."
What do you think? Is the Wii Fit a valid feedback mechanism to track your goals? Or is it encouraging a fixation upon weight? And most importantly, would you use it? Or let your kids use it?

The comments would like to know where you think you're going with that doughnut?

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Related: wii fit, wii, weight gain, weight, judging, goals, fitness, disordered eating, body image disorder

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Comments 1-7 of 7
  • bethee07's Avatar
    Posted by bethee07 Tue May 20, 2008 2:05pm PDT

    This is actually the first I've heard of the Wii Fit. I think its a good idea, but maybe needs some adjustments. Actually having to explain yourself if you gain a couple of pounds is a bit disheartening, especially if you are trying to lose weight. I think they should have thought it thru a little better in that aspect.

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  • Vantui's Avatar
    Posted by Vantui Tue May 20, 2008 3:05pm PDT

    While I can see where people are not happy with the scale thing...I have to admit that they are just using what every "obesity" expert says people should use to find out about their so called fat. BMI is a joke since it doesn't take into account different body types (if you are muscular you can be considered fat or even obese...even if you have very little body fat)...and Wii Fit uses the BMI scale.

    As far as scare tactics? I don't see it any different than what you see every day on the TV and other media.

    Does that make it right? Hell no. I think it needs some tweaking...possibly an option to turn that information off for those of us who just want to have fun with it and get a little exercise at the same time. I know I am fat...I don't need a doctor, loved one or media personality to tell me that...much less a game.

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  • Ana V's Avatar
    Posted by Ana V Tue May 20, 2008 5:31pm PDT

    I would like to try it, I recently loose a lot of weight chnaging my diet habits, for me the scale is a must. not to be traumatized by the weight, but to keep control of my weight, I think that the machine asking an explaination could be used as a is self assesment of what could have trigger the gain of weight, I will not mind it, but probably it could be annoying for many that are not interestied in tracking weight, but more into getting some exercise for helthy reasonsa and have some fun doing it, so in my opinion tracking the weight is not a bad idea, but it should give you the option if you want to or not.

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  • Elissa's Avatar
    Posted by Elissa Wed May 21, 2008 7:00am PDT

    ... so what happens if you don't want to lose weight?

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  • CandiceB's Avatar
    Posted by CandiceB Tue Jun 3, 2008 11:41am PDT

    I will now never buy or use a Wii fit now. Its not right to ask you questions as to why you gained a little weight!I totally understand that the whole goal of the game is to make you fit,but come on there has to be a line of privacy to it. I underrstand that this is just a game but still!

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  • The Fibro Fairy's Avatar
    Posted by The Fibro Fairy Tue Jun 10, 2008 2:52am PDT

    I've just gotten the Wii Fit. . . so far I like it a lot. . . except for the exact things you mentioned.

    I don't think it's right to demand an explanation as to why I gained .5 lbs since the last time. Maybe I did something healthy, like drink some water before I stepped on? Ya know?

    On the other hand. . .I have Fibromyalgia, and the actual exercises are great for it. I have to take it easy as to avoid flares, but they start you off at a level that an 80 y/o could handle for most activities.

    So it's a love/hate thing I guess. I say keep the activities and throw out the "body test" portion.

    And they should know better than to use the BMI. . . that's a bunch of crap. Outdated crap at that.

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  • BrianB's Avatar
    Posted by BrianB Sat Jan 3, 2009 3:49pm PST

    http://www.examiner.com/x-2069-Hartford-Video-Games-Examiner~y2008m12d23-2008-Review-WiiRRich

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